george bush was cheerleading at yale and he had a higher gpa. barack obama just admitted, i was a crappy student. but we'll never know. by definition. and look at you. look how smart you are compared to me. "new york times," too big to fail, all that stuff. anyway, mike -- >> what i think romney needs to do -- >> we've got to go. >> good seeing you guys this morning. >> good seeing you this morning. thanks for playing along. we wanted to gear up for this next debate. the smart one, the democrat, and the stupid one, the republican. try not to trip all over yourself. but do know that your views are so antiquated -- >> absolutely. >> the first presidential debate will be held tonight in the battleground state of colorado. joining us now for a debate before the debate, democratic strategist jimmy williams, and darrell watkins, he made it to the table. >> somebody get behind you to talk about that? >> yes. >> joe, i'm going to go to you first. my question is romney has historically not been an aggressor in these debates. at least in the primaries. >>

. >> george bush was sitting next to michael jordan or near michael jordan. >> and 41 was there, too. >> yeah, my favorite was the tweet. they said, whatever, europe, go solve your debt crisis. >> yeah. >> that's kind of the sentiment. >> jack had talked earlier about the only thing that could get him away from football would have been the ryder cup. he saw probably every swing, too. >> i've had experiences myself with puts and stuff. and heart democratic break. so you have to feel like -- >> watching the reaction from both teams towards the end, they caught a couple in the "wall street journal." >> phil -- >> was that saturday? >> no, this was 17 after he would have -- justin rose hit that long put. phil can chip from behind the green on 17 and that would have won. that was -- >> tiger had one that almost went in. >> so that wasn't heartbreak there, he didn't know justin rose was going to hit a 30 footer and then win 18 either. what happened in homeland? explain to our viewers what it is. >> you watch it, too. >> i do. >> it's on show "time." do you want to talk about the jets and re

now, george bush was elected president twice because he won the hispanic vote over 35%. he got 40%. mitt romney's at about 20% to 25% right now. he's too far behind. and states are going massively for the president. >> what polls do you read that you actually think are right? if you looked at rasmussen, you'd think it's a jump ball race. >> i do think it will be very close. i think talking about three or four electoral votes, i think we're also talking about those eight states that are critical. the ohios, the colorados and nevadas, floridas. but img t think the president i moving forward. >> the latest polls actually show president obama has a big lead in states like ohio and florida. do you believe those polls? >> they move around, but i do think that he got a bump after the democratic convention. no republican has been elected president without winning ohio. so i think that's -- mitt romney will have to rebound. and i see the debates where he's a good debater. he won 16 out of 20 republican debates by his own count, but i think he did well. >> i'm going to make this hard for you.

bush. he had a reputation as a strong debater. his body language was off, he was condescending to bush. bush was surprisingly well performed and personable. you had the bush campaign take advantage of some mistakes that gore made in the debate. and they really drove a story. cheney beat lieberman in the vice presidential debates. all those things came together and political scientists call it a wave effect. cause out with bush ahead a few points. >> couldn't you just say for an idiot, he was surprisingly well inform informed in say what you're feeling. >> i've never thought bush was an idiot. >> why would you say surprisingly well informed? he was governor for -- he had a higher grade point average than al gore. >> because bush had a reputation -- >> with who? >> among people who cover him and among-mf. >> the media, you mean? >> a significant portion of the american people. >> i'm playing with you. i read what you tweeted, that you're ready for some debating with morning joe and at squawk. so you know this is fun, this what -- an

there have been strong debates, john kerry had a strong debate against george w. bush in 2004. but he wasn't able to translate that into lasting benefit. that's the best of the next three weeks, to see whether romney can keep it going or whether president obama comes out with a higher level of aggression, higher level of energy in the next debate and stop the momentum that romney accumulated last night. >> okay. yeah, i had so many different thoughts, john, as we watched the whole thing. i remember that a lot of republicans were supporting newt gingrich because just for this moment, they wanted -- they thought newt was such a great debater, they wanted to see someone like newt talk to president obama about his policies and about the last four years. and they thought newt would have been the guy to do it. and i don't think that the republicans now feel like they lost a step by having romney there. and in watching, i've tried to sometimes espouse free market principles, private sector language about how to approach certain things. and i got to tell you, there were a couple times